Waiting for You!
by Kid Eternity
Summary: A year and a few months after the "War with Whitebeard", Amazon Lily is at a time of peace, prosperity and...boredom, that is until the Straw Hats come along to start a party!


_**This is a new fic after so long of brainstorming; I've finally decided to get these creative juices flowing again after months of writers block. Please, feel free to read my fic which I have worked so hard to write and post here!**_

_Events taking place here are 1 years __**after**__ the "War with Whitebeard" and takes place at Amazon Lily, when the Straw Hats have finally gotten back together and the world has settled again, Luffy successfully rescued his brother from WG and is sailing off to more adventures, but first has to fulfill his promise of visiting his female friends, where a yearning and patient Empress awaits his return_.

_**Note: the names of the new characters that I'll be introducing here are based on rare and exotic flowers, sticking to Oda-san's naming style**_**. **_**I will also include some Japanese in their phonetics, so unless you are unfamiliar with some of them, here is a list of them for me to provide.**_

_Mataku - My goodness! or Oh man! _

_Santōryū Ougi - Sanzen Sekai-T__hree-Swords Style Secret Technique: Three Thousand Worlds_

_Hebihime-sama - Snake Princess or Lady Snake Princess_

_Wakarimashita - Okay, Understood, I got it, I understand, etc._

_Hebi-onna – literally "Snake woman"_

_Ore dayo – a rude and casual way to say "It's me"_

_Genki – how are you?_

It was a morning like any other in Amazon Lily, the day was bright and sunny, and the island was peaceful and gave an air of life. Every woman was going about their lives.

The market place was at its busiest and the women were attending to their businesses, the Sea King meat and fruit vendors with their fresh stocks. The clothing stores were displaying their best and finest cloths while the restaurants and eateries were packed with hungry customers.

The place was brimming with talk, laughter, gossip and clatter.

The women were especially lively this time of day, because these were one of those that their Empress would spend the day in the island and not be out at the open seas pirating, which made them all the happier. The population was indeed blessed with the peace and prosperity that life (and their Empress) had brought them.

_At the Palace…_

In the Palace, a woman was sitting idly on a large snake that served as her seat, lightly stroking its head, it only spoke volumes on how particularly bored she was today, on this day of days where their peace was at one of their peaks.

Boa Hancock was beside herself, usually she could always go to sea with her sisters, but the crew was already dirt tired from their last pillaging of ships and their supplies and provisions were already at their most abundant.

Sighing heavily, she sometimes stole glances at the window to see if anything interesting was up, but was always met with the same air of nothingness.

Her sisters were lying adjacent to her, each one on either side, as if nothing in the world interested them because that they had nothing better to do.

Marigold was also idly attending to her pet; a hawk, throwing it scraps of bread she picked up earlier to eat during breakfast; feeding it, while Sandersonia was just lying on her back looking up at the ceiling with a bored expression; her pet panther just taking a nap beside her.

It would seem this day was nothing special of sorts, but they were about to get the surprise of their lives at that very moment.

_At the harbor_…

Two women were stationed at the harbor to stand guard, one was picking at her ears with a swab while the other let out a yawn. The first woman who was picking at her ears first spoke,

"_Mataku_! This really is aggravating, nothing ever happens on days like this, what a time for it to be so damn boring, wouldn't you say so Kahili?!" the other replied with drowsy compliance and gave a slight nod, "I agree Sulawesii, its days like this that make me wish a Sea King were to suddenly attack, I could just blow it away with my _Haki_!"

The two conversed on for what seemed like a few minutes when suddenly Kahili noticed something off the distance, "Sulawesii, what's that?" pointing towards the direction where a faint figure of what seemed like a strange creature was approaching.

Kahili moved closer to align with what Sulawesii was pointing at, "What Sula? What…is that; a Sea King?" moving her right palm over her eyes to better see the creature, "Doesn't look like any Sea King I've ever seen!" replied Kahili.

The two women looked on as the creature continued to move ever closer towards them. Little by little they were able to make out what the thing was, it had a head of what seemed like a lion and on top of it there was a figure of what looked like a skull wearing a…hat?

Soon, the creature was finally close enough for the two women to make it out, much to their surprise it wasn't a Sea King at all, but a ship.

"A ship…? In the middle of the Calm Belt, are they crazy?" Sula exclaimed loudly, Kahili could only agree, "With all the Sea Kings out there they're dead!" Wait, what the…?" as soon as she said it, a Sea King immediately rose from the waters to attack.

"That's it! They're dead meat!" Kahi said but was soon caught by surprise by what was about to happen next.

"Look, someone's jumping out of the ship, probably to esca…!" Sula was cut off by a shocking sight, in mere seconds the Sea King which was about to pounce on the ship was sliced to bits, but not before hearing someone shouting "_**Santōryū Ougi - Sanzen Sekai**_".

The two were in turn shocked, putting on face faults (_**note, if you watch One Piece and have seen their face faults many times, then you can just imagine what kind of faces they were putting on**_). Soon recovering from the episode, Kahi was the first to speak, "Di-di-di-di you just…se-se-see tha-that!?" Sula nodded; her mouth still gaped open.

Sula then recovered and proceeded to speak as well, "Th-that was…it must be an attack, they must be here to attack us, quick sound the alert Kahi!!!" the latter wasted no time to heed the order.

Running quickly, she soon arrived on one of the guard towers and proceeded to ring the large bell to warn her brethren.

"**ATTACK!!! **A ship has been spotted, we are under attack!!" Kahi shouted as loud as she could. As soon as the rest of the Kuja heard, they were already readying themselves, "An attack!?" said one, "Yup, _Ikuzo_!" said another.

Hundreds of Kuja could then be seen running through the streets towards the gate of the harbor, with their weapons in hand.

The sound of the commotion soon reached the ears of the sisters and broke them out of their trance.

Marigold was the first to speak, "An attack? Here? What is this, a ship just suddenly sailed here like nothing without any regard for the Sea Kings?"

"It must be a Marine Ship, only they could traverse our territory without so much as a care for the beasts with Sea Stone on their ships," Sandersonia replied lazily.

Hancock suddenly stood up, "Well, it can't be helped, whatever their purpose is we will just have to confront them, and if necessary-_annihilate_ them," and with that, the three departed to greet their _guests_.

_Back at shore…_

Almost all of the inhabitants of Amazon Lily were waiting anxiously for their attackers to arrive. Armed to the teeth, they were soon "graced" by their Empress' presence, "_Kyaaaaaaaah_!!!_ Hebihime-samaaaa_!!! Over here! Here! _Kyaaaaaaaaaaah_!!!" cheered the admiring Kujas.

Hancock was just coming out of the gate riding the Kuja ship pulled by gigantic Sea Serpents with her sisters beside her and a handful of crew members, ready to confront the interlopers.

With her right hand on her hip, she brushed a lock of hair to the back of her right ear, a display which further aroused all of the Kuja present to burst out in mad cries of admiration and love for their ruler, others simply swooned and fainted.

As soon as they were far enough and near the opposing vessel that was approaching, Hancock asked for a telescope from one of her subordinates, who came near, bent down and with both hands offered it with the utmost respect all the while bowing her head down; a trace of scarlet could be seen on her smiling face.

Hancock took it without even stealing a glance from the subordinate, who retreated to take her place amongst the rest of the crew.

Hancock extended the device and looked through the lens to focus on the oncoming ship, only to see the head first and the Jolly Roger painted on the large sail.

It certainly didn't look like a Marine Ship; unless the Marines started to manufacture a new model with a head of a lion and a Jolly Roger then it would be less than ridiculous but she could tell that it wasn't because of the Roger.

At first Hancock was suspicious, seeing the Roger was enough to make her wonder whether if she had seen it before or if it reminded her of something…or some_one_, but as soon as she had focused some more, she noticed the Straw Hat.

"_Wait! A Straw Hat? (_gasp_) Could it be? No it couldn't…but…it could!_" her heart started to beat rapidly, trickles of sweat started to drop from her forehead and a look of longing was beginning to form on her lovely face.

"_It can't be him, it just can't, he _is_ out at sea after all, and…I haven't seen him for almost a year now, but…!_" Hancock thought silently, Marigold started to notice her sister's agitation and spoke up,

"What is wrong _Anee-sama_, what do you see?"

Hancock barely noticed before turning to Marigold,

"Huh? Oh…sail on closer, if we are to make sure that this is an enemy we might as well verify it, if they are and try anything, do not hesitate to attack with your all!" Hancock said to the crew while struggling to keep her composure.

"_WAKARIMASHITA HEBIHIME-SAMA!!!_" everyone of the crew said in unison.

The ship sailed on further, nearing their destination, only enough to hear sounds and voices from the vessel as they drew on, one particular voice caught Hancock's attention, "_HOY!!! Hebi-onna_!" went a young boy's cry.

Then suddenly it struck Hancock, _it must be him_; after so long, of waiting and hoping, the one man and probably the _only_ man she could ever love in just one lifetime. He was finally here, without any doubt, he had come back to her.

"_Anee-sama_ that voice, it must be…!" went Sandersonia, a bit surprised.

Hancock could only smile and she carelessly dropped the telescope that landed on the ship's floor boards with a _thump_ and she looked up and smiled, careful to keep her composure which was proving to be quite difficult since at that very moment she was utterly overwhelmed with emotion and feelings of love that she had not felt since having last seen him.

"Yes Sadnersonia, it must be him, that Straw Hat, how many ships do you find out there with a straw hat on their Jolly Roger?" her smile only widened a bit after saying it, causing the crew members nearby her to swoon and praise her.

After a few more miles they finally stopped next to the ship, Hancock turned and saw that it was

not that big, nor was it as strange or bizarre as she had thought, it indeed had a mast of what

looked like a lion's head, the Jolly Roger could be seen on the front sail and the flag above the

crow's nest which was big and wide, and on the ship itself, she could have sworn that grass was

growing from the floor boards, other than that, it looked like your run-of-the-mill everyday

ship…sort of.

Suddenly she looked on closer, hanging from the front sale with just one arm and the other holding his hat, she could see him, and she widened her eyes in delight and happiness that he had finally come back to her.

"_Luffy_…!" she whispered, and he took his hand off his hat and waved a hand to greet her, smiling his signature smile, "HOY! Hancock! _Ore dayo_! It's me, _shi-shi-shi_!" Hancock waved back, as well as her two sisters once they noticed who it was.

He then jumped from the sails and landed on her ship with a thump.

Luffy seemed to have not changed at all, but he was noticeably taller; almost reaching past her nose, sporting a red unbuttoned vest and torn shorts as well as his signature straw hat.

He then held out a hand to shake hers, "_Shi-shi-shi_! Oy _genki_?" Luffy asked while shaking her hand, Hancock could only sigh and smile, a tinge of crimson could be seen trailing across her face, "Uh…_genki desu_ Luffy (giggle), and you?"

"Ah! I just came here to visit with my crew; like I promised, so how are things here in Amazon Lily?" Luffy said while shaking her hand.

"Eh? Uh…everything's fine, as always, actually-today was one of those particular days where you just had nothing to do, we were bored out of our minds before you came along," Hancock replied with a tender smile, which Luffy returned.

"The rest of the Kuja pirates started talking, about the strange man that had just boarded their ship and why he and their Empress were so friendly, some recognized the man, while others who were obviously new talked amongst themselves in wonder.

Luffy continued, "So Hancock, wanna go meet my _nakama_?"

"Eh? Your _nakama?_ Uh…well, alright," Hancock replied nervously, "_Anee-sama_?" Sonia and Mari said in unison, "It's alright you two, I trust Luffy," and with that, Luffy wrapped an extended arm around Hancock's waist snugly and extended the other to reach his ship, he then jumped and the elongated arm recoiled sending the two forward.

As soon as they laded on the ship, Hancock could have sworn someone had said, "_Ahhhhhhhh! Mellorine!!! Who is this fine treasure our _Senchou_ has brought onto us!_" another voice said,

"_Well who ever she is, she looks loaded with beli_!" and soon Hancock could see more and more of the crew as she got a better look, they came near eagerly, some more than the rest.

Luffy uncoiled his arm around Hancock, and walked forward to his crew, "_Yosh_, _Minna_! This is Hancock, she's the really nice lady that took care of me while I was stranded here after our fight with Kuma," Luffy was then met with a kick in the face from the one that said "_Mellorine_" earlier.

"Damn you Luffy! You were actually under the care of these exotic beautiful women while I was trapped and held against my will in that damn _Okama_ Island?!!" Hancock could only put her hand over her mouth in shock at this display.

Of course Luffy immediately recovered, leaving his face with only a marred indent of Sanji's foot that instantly got back into shape. Luffy only chuckled,

"Well, _warui_! _Shishishi_, anyway, as I was saying this is Hancock, she's the Empress of that island over there, so she's pretty big, and guess what; she's a _Shichibukai _too!"

Making the Straw Hats go, "_Eeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhh! _Wh-what-what did you say Luffy? A _Shichibukai_! Yo-you made friends with a _Shichibukai_?" said one carrying on his back with what seemed to be a large sling shot.

"Well, it's not everyday that our captain is friends with one of the _Warlords of the Sea_ or even two; counting Jinbei, he practically took out two of them and if I remembered correctly, he took care of that Doflamingo fellow as well a few months ago," said a dark skinned woman wearing a cowboy's hat calmly.

"Either way, it's actually splendid that our captain has such a beautiful woman as an acquaintance. Excuse me my dear lady, but can I have the permission of looking to see if you have any _panties_?" said a skeleton…"_A skeleton?_" thought a shocked Hancock silently, only to see the skeleton be met with a punch in the head from an enraged orange-haired girl that yelled,

"_Meeting a new friend and already acting like a damn pervert_!" only to drag him away afterwards, causing Hancock to sweat drop.

"Well this is _SUPA! _The ship is too, being pulled forward by those two monsters; crude but effective, but I could do better, _much_ better if you ask me," said the large one wearing what appeared to be a…_Speedo_?

Hancock was taken a bit aback by all the crew members that she was seeing before her, and she had seen some pretty bizarre _nakama _before, but never as bizarre as these misfits.

She was beginning to wonder to herself if Luffy was really accountable for his taste in crew

members, whom she turned to but was only met with him smiling and chuckling for his crew

which in turn, made her smile as well.

"So I guess it's time for me to introduce you to them, okay come here Hancock. Everybody LINE UP!!!" Luffy motioned for her to come with him, holding her hand, which made her sigh dreamily.

They first came upon the _Mellorine_ guy, "_Yosh_, Hancock, this is Sanji, he's the cook in our ship, and he's pretty weird sometimes when he's around women but other than that, he's a pretty okay guy, also his cooking is the best," Luffy said introducing Sanji, who immediately reached out for Hancock's hand to caress and kiss it,

"Ah! _Mademoiselle_! Such a rare and exotic beauty, probably the rarest of them all, a dark and adult charm that you exude overwhelms my heart so, (_sigh_!) alas! I' am afraid I' am unworthy of you and your splendor, such a sublime creature to even think of being serenaded by me, please when all of this has cleared and died down maybe we can find a better scenery and share a moment alone togeth…!"

Sanji was cut off by being turned to stone; much to the shock of the crew…but after a few seconds, they decided to take it astride, seeing as how the gibberish had finally died down and plus it was an improvement.

The next one was less annoying, Hancock could see that he was absolutely trembling with fear, but was apparently doing his best to regain or keep his composure,

"This is Ussop, our sniper and sharp shooter; see that thing on his back, its called Kabuto, it's his weapon, pretty cool huh? Say hello Ussop!" Ussop came near and nervously offered his hand to shake, stifling to speak.

Hancock could only watch this pitiful display but still complied with his gesture out of pity.

After shaking hands they moved on, "This is Nami, she's our navigator, she's really nice but when she gets mad, she's really scary; especially when we spend money, I don't know why she couldn't just budget our money and our problems would be solv…!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!!! YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WASTING OUR MONEY! MOSTLY ON FOOD AND MEAT!!!" Nami hollered out giving Luffy a punch and a kick, she then turned to Hancock and gave her a bright smile, "Hello! I'm Nami, nice to meet you," she said as innocently as she could, making Hancock sweat drop.

The next one was a powerfully built man with a height that had to be at least seven feet, "This is Franky our shipwright, he built this ship were standing on now, the _Thousand Sunny_!"

Hancock merely looked at him with wonder and curiosity, "Um…excuse me, but why are you just wearing a speedo?" pointing at the revealing attire.

Franky just smirked and a flash reflected off his sunglasses, "That's because I'm…SUPER!!!" and went into his signature pose, making Hancock wonder if she should be annoyed, insulted, shocked, amused or anything in-between all of them.

They then moved on to the smallest crew member, "Okay Hancock, this is Chopper, the crew doctor, he's a reindeer who can talk," Chopper walked a bit forward and introduced himself, "Hello! Nice to meet yo-!" Chopper was cut off by a swift kick from Hancock, causing him to soar all the way into the sky and disappear with a "_ping_!"

The rest of the crew reacted with shock and they all sweat dropped, looking on as Chopper disappeared (but he'll come back), they then turned to Hancock; who just shrugged and said, "I just don't like small furry animals that's all," some just face faulted at this and others sweat dropped a little.

Luffy continued, "Here's another one of my crew, our musician Brook," Hancock was taken aback by this being, nothing but bones and yet here he was standing, talking and probably even living, "Uh…hello?" she said, holding out her hand for him to shake.

Brook paused for a moment, then clattered his teeth and spoke, "Ah, hello my dear lady, a pleasure again if I may, so how about you show me your panties-_Yohohohoho_?" this time, it was Hancock to give him a punch, just barely breaking his jaw bone.

Brook just paused before realigning his jaw back and laughed, "_Yohohohoho_! Ah! Another time then; _yohohohohoho_!" Hancock moved on with Luffy, next was a fierce green-haired looking man, which tensed Hancock a little and made her scowl, which the man returned.

"_Yosh_! This is Roronoa Zoro; my first mate, he's a really strong swordsman and he's aiming to be the best in the world," Luffy said.

Zoro paused and scowled at Hancock before averting his gaze from her, "Ah…!" was all he could say.

Hancock thought that he was being rude, especially towards her but she simply shrugged it off before moving on with Luffy.

Next was a dark skinned woman, wearing a brown spaghetti and blue jeans with a white cowboy hat on her head. Hancock could have sworn she had seen her before, and that that she looked absolutely attractive; of course, not as much as her.

"This is Nico Robin, but we just call her Robin, she's an archeologist and one of our strongest _nakama_," Luffy motioned Robin to come forward.

As soon as she heard the name "Nico Robin", she finally remembered, "Ah! You are the infamous Nico Robin I have heard so much about from the World Government are you not? The so called…_Demon of Ohara_ who could read the _Poneglyphs_," Hancock said casually.

Robin's left eyebrow twitched, as well as the rest of the crew who got tense and looked at Hancock, "I see that my reputation has proceeded to the farthest regions of the Grand Line to have even made it here, I' am…quite flattered by your recognition of me," Robin said equally as casual with a smile, but a trace of sarcasm and irritancy could be heard from her voice.

Hancock simply smiled and noticed that everyone was looking daggers at her, "Calm yourself, since you are of one of Luffy's _nakama_ I have nothing against you Nico Robin, regardless of who you are or what you might have done it matters not to me," she said while putting a hand on her hip.

Hearing this everyone mellowed out, and now that the introductions were done, "Well, Hancock we might as well give a tour of the ship, do you want to?" Luffy said to Hancock who nodded in agreement as a blush trailed her face as she held out her hand for Luffy to hold, which he took.

_After the tour…_

They were back at the galley of the ship and Hancock was sitting on a seat provided by Franky. All the crew members were around her, Sanji had been de-petrified while Chopper mysteriously and miraculously got back on the ship.

"So why have you gathered us here Hancock-_san­_?" Nami said with a raised eyebrow.

Hancock crossed her arms and crossed a leg above her other which made Sanji go mad with his _mellorine_ look, and Hancock simply looked down and sighed heavily, "I suppose you're all wondering why I have gathered you all around me; well, it is because of a…condition I must ask of you, a ground rule that you all must follow before setting foot into Amazon Lily. You see, I have already told this secret to Luffy and I definitely do not give this to just _anyone_. So please bear with me," another heavy sigh and she continued.

"As you have witnessed earlier, I have the ability to turn people into stone as what you have seen me do to your friend, (most nodded while Sanji was just waving his arms around with a love face shouting _Mellorine_! like an idiot) I ate a _Devil Fruit _you see, the _Mero Mero no Mi_, which enables me to turn anyone into stone as long as they are moved to "dirty thoughts" by my beauty (everyone glanced at Sanji who was still being an idiot),"

Hancock was speaking as if trying to be within earshot of them, careful not to let anyone in her ship to hear.

"Like I said, I have already told this secret to Luffy and…I might as well tell it to all of you to avoid any…complications, being Luffy's crew, I trust that this will only be between us and my sisters?"

The crew grew tense and looked at Luffy who was just staring down-his eyes were shaded, they then nodded in agreement.

"Very well, you see, the reason I have a Devil Fruit…and why I'm so secretive about it is because of my past with my sisters, we were taken from our ship when I was about 12 years old, me and my sisters were sold as slaves in the Human Auctioning House at the Sabaody Archipelago to the Tenryuubito, we spent the next most miserable 4 years of our lives serving those dogs…and after that, we were freed by a Fishman called Fisher Tiger, we were grateful and eventually found our way back into our home thanks to an old bag that took us in…," as Hancock elaborated upon her past, the Straw Hats couldn't help but be appalled by it, to think that this woman was also a victim of those Celestial Dragons.

"All three of us were fed Devil's Fruits as a sick form of entertainment for our captors. To keep this further a secret, my sisters and I...have lied to our brethren that we simply slew a Gorgon to gain these powers"

As soon as Hancock finished, she paused and look down and after what seemed like hours she raised her head to look the at the Straw Hats directly with a stern look that only spoke of the pain that she was feeling of reminiscing memories like that.

"So…tell me…are you going to disclose everything you have heard here to my people…or are you disgusted by me?" Hancock said and swallowed her throat…waiting for the shunning to begin; when suddenly.

"So you were a slave huh? Is that all! Heh! We were going to expect something a lot worse, so are you going to show us around the island?" Nami said with a smile.

Hancock gasped with shock at what she had just heard, "Wait, what? Aren't you…the least bit appalled by me, aren't you disgusted?"

The straw hats just shrugged and smiled, "What are you talking about? Do you really expect us to throw you away after hearing that, now that we know about you, we can be okay!" Nami continued,

"Yeah, although we might not look it, all of us here are outsiders, criminals or outlaws to the eyes of the world and the government, so were pretty much used to people discriminating us, besides we hate those Tenryuubito too, after what they did to all those people at the Sabaody Archipelago, HA! You should have been there when Luffy socked that one with a runny nose!" all of the straw hats seemed to smile at this.

Ussop was beginning to stop his squirming and smiled at Hancock, even Sanji stopped his idiotic display and was seen smoking a cigarette and leaning on the mast; grinning.

Hancock looked on with wide eyes and gaped her mouth slightly open at the crew, to have accepted her just like that, then turned to Luffy who was looking at her with a smile and laughed "_shishishi_".

Seeing this made Hancock smile as well.

After all this, she now saw that these people who have accepted her wholeheartedly among them with not the least bit of shame or disgust, and without even meaning to they were now; as she had not expected it to be, were her friends.

_**Well this is it, I was just inspired to do this in my spare time and I just know that I will be posting a new chapter soon so stay tune, I promise.**_

_**R&R!!!**_


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